


A Reunion

by DorkWingsRise



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: AU: Chloé disappears after Miracle Queen, Aged Up, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-07
Updated: 2020-04-07
Packaged: 2021-03-01 23:22:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,414
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23535217
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DorkWingsRise/pseuds/DorkWingsRise
Summary: Seven years after Miracle Queen, Marinette finally tracks down Chloé.
Relationships: Chloé Bourgeois & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Comments: 4
Kudos: 46





	A Reunion

The real pros don't fidget or fall asleep. They don't take breaks to walk it out, though they need to. They don't lose themselves to whatever notification begs their attention the most incessantly, though they want to. No, the real pros just sit there — or in this case, stand there — blending into the backdrop of the city as they watch without seeming to. Marinette Dupain-Cheng was a real pro, slouching against a wall of a closed shop, seeming to scroll through screen after screen on her phone, eyes always tracking the service door of Duval Dance Studio. A door now suddenly pushed open from within.  
  
And as a real pro, Marinette did not start when that door opened, nor did her shoulders slump in defeat when the wrong person walked through the door. With dark hair buzzed close to the scalp, save for a longer blonde fringe framing the right side of her face, she stepped quickly down the sidewalk in her heavy denim jeans and heavier motorcycle boots. Very much the wrong person: not at all Chloé Bourgeois.   
  
Marinette dropped her phone into her purse and continued to watch as the studio's front doors opened. A flock of tiny boys and girls swirled out, running toward waiting parents and cars before a cry went up and the circled back to swarm the girl, who knelt to hug them each in turn; and then off, racing and swirling around again toward waiting parents and cars. A burst of noise and movement. A rush of excitement. Then the sidewalk seemed still, pedestrians fewer, the light dimmer. The woman stood up and gathered her belongings, smiling in the afterglow of a dozen hugs. It was the smile that did it, the rare curve of a perfect lip.  
  
"Chloé?"  
  
"Marinette Dupain-Cheng." Chloé let the name hang in the air. "I'm kind of stunned to see you."  
  
"It's been seven years, Chloé. Please don't tell me that all I had to do was wander around Montmartre if I wanted to find you."  
  
Chloe looked down for a moment, kicking the sidewalk with the toe of her boot. "No. I actually just got back 3 weeks ago. I've been living in London." She smirked. "That would have been quite the wander."  
  
"It has been quite the wander as it was. The last time I saw you, Hawkmoth pretty much shattered you in front of the whole world. I went to your suite that night to check on you -- to make sure that you were OK -- and no one would talk to me. Hell, Adrien won't talk to me. I mention your name, and he just gets this angry look on his face and says he won't talk about that day."  
  
"You came by that night? I didn't think anyone would. Miracle Queen pretty much felt like my last bridge crumbling beneath me."  
  
"We are going to talk about that. About all of that. But first, just tell me this: are you OK?"  
  
"I actually am OK. I wasn't, but I am now. Look, are you hungry at all? I've been teaching dance for hours, and I'm starving. I'm guessing that if you have time to skulk around Montmartre that you might have time for dinner?"  
  
"I was not skulking!"  
  
"You kinda were skulking, Marinette. But you looked good doing it. I think I like the neo-beatnik look on you."  
  
Through a sigh, Marinette replied, "This is the maiden voyage of this look, and I don't know what to think. I mean, I feel good about the execution, but, still, it feels off."  
  
"Maybe it just doesn't feel authentic to you? You haven't started smoking, have you?"  
  
"God no, Chloé."  
  
"Hrm…, but you are still a coffee fiend, I imagine."  
  
"I am. But I don't think coffee means today what it meant in 1950. Maybe you are right. Maybe the era just doesn't speak to me."  
  
"Come with me. Let's eat. After, I know a place where we can find jazz if we can stay awake long enough. Don't give up on your look yet."  
  
"Fine. And thank you, Chloe, for the compliment. Even if I'm not sure what I think about this, it is nice to hear that you approve. Speaking of looks, I never thought that hair would work on anyone who wasn't named Kristen Stewart; but you look breathtaking. I might have to run my hands over that buzzcut at some point. Don't hate me, OK?"  
  
At that, Chloé laughed. "Fine, fine. Just hurry up, let's go! I am starving here!"  
  
"Where are we going?"  
  
"You'll know in less than 2 blocks. Think you can wait, Dupain-Cheng?"  
  
"Fine, Bourgeois. Think you can talk while we walk? I still want to know what the hell happened to you."  
  
"The short story is that my parents disowned me."  
  
"They fucking what?!"  
  
"Yeah, I got home that night, still pretty much shaking, and they gave me 30 minutes to pack a bag and leave. Apparently, I disgraced the family name. And at that moment, I really didn't think that I had anywhere that I could go. So I ducked down here. I've been studying with Mira Dupont since before she transitioned and lost most of her students. She understood me. Somehow. Anyway, she had a friend in London who needed instructors. So I went."  
  
"Damnit, you could have stayed with me, or Adrien, or so many people!"  
  
"You didn't see Adrien's eyes after Miracle Queen. There was no way he was going to take me in that night. And I figured that if I lost Adrien, I'd lost everyone."  
  
"I don't get why Adrien was such a butt about that."  
  
"I don't get why you are so nice about it. I'm still stunned that you came looking for me that night. Granted, you are the only person who believed in me enough to push me to be better. But still."  
  
"Well, I feel like I didn't really start understanding you until way too late. For the longest time, I just thought you were a brat. It wasn't until I saw your mother in action and started to really think about your father's behavior that I realized what you were up against. And even then, it wasn't until that day that it hit me how strong you had to be every day, and how brittle it had left you, and how isolated you were. Suddenly, I really saw you. But there wasn't a thing that I could do to help. And then you were gone. So, what the fuck with Adrien?"  
  
Chloé stopped walking and turned toward Marinette. "That one is a bit trickier. But I probably hurt Adrien twice as much as most people that day. Well. I definitely hurt him twice as much as most people. It was a lot."  
  
"Try again, Chloé. I hear all of these words, but they make no sense."  
  
"I'm 95% sure that Adrien is Chat Noir. Same eyes. Same disappointed look. Same anger. So, not only did I disappoint Adrien on a personal level, I threatened all of the things that he values the most.. Plus, it had to look a whole lot more like something I chose that day. Honestly, it was. That's a lot of betrayal to throw at someone who is supposed to be your brother."  
  
"Chloé, you really shouldn't speculate about that sort of thing. It isn't safe."  
  
"I think it is safer than you might think. I'm 99% sure that Gabriel is — was — Hawkmoth. No activity since Gabriel's stroke, right?"  
  
"That could just be a coincidence!"  
  
"Maybe. But except for Mayura, no one has dealt with Hawkmoth as much as I have. I recognize his touch. And I grew up watching Gabriel break down Adrien. I know it's him."  
  
Chloé looked into Marinette's eyes, a faint tremble in her lower lip. "All the more reason to make me wonder even more why you came for me that night."  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"I have theories about you, too —"  
  
Marinette silenced Chloé with a single finger gently placed on her lips. "Chloé, please, if any other theories that you have might be safe to discuss, that one isn't even safe to think. And it won't ever be."  
  
Marinette started strolling in the direction that they had been heading. "The stupid thing, Chloé, is that you and I should have been special. We align. Even when I didn't understand you and you were being an idiot, I was frustrated with you as much as I was ever mad at you. You were better than that. You were the one person who could maybe sit up with me and sketch next season's line. I have dozens of sketchbooks filled with designs modeled by girls who look just like you. Sure, I'll eventually have to design for runway models, but you were — are — my demographic. And we have this crazy fucking energy. How could I ever give up on you?"  
  
"I thought the crazy energy thing was just in my head."  
  
"Nuh-uh. To be fair, I didn't really see it until a few years ago. Fish and water, I guess."  
  
"Mmm. I really wasn't very self-aware at all until a few years ago. Working with kids, living abroad, tending bar at night — which I did; teaching dance does not pay — taking classes: All of these little things brought me around. It helped a lot to be away from a toxic situation. Years of therapy helped a lot, too. But when I thought about you over the years, there was always a little glow."  
  
"Did you date?"  
  
"No. I wasn't ready for that. And I couldn't survive another mess like I made with Sabrina. They say, "be gentle with your younger self," but I really struggle with how I treated her. "Chloé peeked over at Marinette from the corner of her eye. "I almost went out. Once."  
  
"Oh? You can't just let that hang there, Bourgeois. Dish."  
  
"One of my students had a really hot —" Chloe paused.  
  
"Hot?! Hot what? Bootie? Mom?"  
  
"Grandmother, actually. Refined but with a spark of fun in her eyes. Really gorgeous. I hope that I look half as good as she looked when I am that age."  
  
"Wow."  
  
"Yeah. Crazy chemistry. I wanted to say 'yes,' but I said, 'no.' I used to think that there was some kind of intent in the Universe. In fact, I believed that it aligned perfectly with my sense of privilege."  
  
Marinette snorted. "We all have a bit of that at 14, I think. But, yeah, I may have noticed that in you once or twice."  
  
"Oh shut up, Dupain-Cheng," Chloé said through a spreading smile. "But I don't really think there is any great intent in the Universe any longer. I think things just crash into each other, and if people plan carefully and measure twice and all that, we still mostly make it up as we go along and hope for the best. But, still, when I think back, I am tempted to say that the Universe was testing me then."  
  
"Do you regret not going with her?"  
  
"I think…I think I'll always be curious about how it would have been. But then I think about the rest. About how it would have ended and how I would have hurt. Or how it would have just sort of fizzled out, and I would have felt that all of the energy really just went for nothing. I don't know if I could have handled that then. So, no. No regrets. Just an occasional sad thought." Chloe came to a stop and turned to face Marinette. "Hey, we're here! I know it doesn't look like much, but the food is great. It is sort of a secret place for locals that the tourists haven't found. Trust me?"  
  
"I do. Look, Chloé, where are you living right now?"  
  
"I have one of the rooms above the studio. It is tiny, but all that I really have is a weekend-bag of clothes, so it works."  
  
"After we eat — maybe after we find that jazz you mentioned and see if I can redeem my look — here's what we are going to do. We are going to get your stuff and move you into my place. I have plenty of room. We can get you situated and start unraveling the past 7 years, starting with kicking young Mr. Agreste in the butt if I have to. Which might be tricky; he's living in Italy these days. Long story for another time."  
  
"You two didn't work out?"  
  
"We never started. Adrien never saw my energy, and I never got anything back from him. Then I made a real mess with a sweet guy who was crazy about me but, I don't know. I think I just liked how it felt to be liked so much. You should know this about me, Chloé, when I fuck up, I fuck up big. Like with Pollen. I'm really sorry about that."  
  
"You did the right thing. If Miracle Queen was about anything, it was about how dangerous it was for my identity to have leaked. You were right. I was targeted. It just seemed like Pollen was the only hope I had to change. But you couldn't afford to allow everything to be about me. It took a while, but I figured that much out. I wasn't really in a position to change, anyway. You were right. I was brittle. Nothing that happened back then could have changed that. It took years to find a better path." Chloe paused. "Are you sure you want me staying with you? I mean, I really appreciate the offer. But I don't want to impose."  
  
"I've been trying to find you for 7 years. That was an imposition. You moving in will be a cake-walk. But, um, pick how you want it to go. I have a guest bedroom that I can set up for you, or I have a master bedroom with more than enough room for two. Honestly, I'd rather turn that guest bedroom into a little atelier."  
  
"Which would leave me…?"  
  
"Where you should have been years ago, Chloé Bourgeois."  
  
"Is this the universe testing me again?"  
  
"Does it feel like a test?"  
  
"Strangely, no. It feels like the most natural thing in the world. If you're sure, I wouldn't want to cheat you out of your atelier."  
  
"Well, let's go get you fed. You might need your strength later."


End file.
